On the 27th we went to Suffolk to visit relatives for a few days. The garden alone has great birding, from Lesser spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatch, to Red legged Partridge and Woodcock. Amongst the usual Pheasants and Partridges however, lurk mutants... Duh dah duh!
... Melanistic Common Pheasant. Even though they may look like a totally different species, these guys are still technically Common Pheasant, just a bit mucked up. The bird below is a male, note the remains of a white collar and red eye patch. They are still just as timid as normal Pheasants, so getting a shot wasn't easy and by the time I took my eye out of the viewfinder after taking this shot... it was gone.
Happy New Year!
4 comments:
Sounds like a great and beautiful garden.
Some species that I miss on my list :D
How come that this pheasant is so differently coloured?
He's beautiful though :D!
Hi Nichole, thanks! I think it's got something to do with a different gene that must have been lost or mutated over time... and then the mutated bird has gone on to breed. This is where I regret mucking about in Biology!
I've never been good at biology either.
Thanks for the answer though :D
Fascinating bird!
Wishing you happy birding for 2010 :)
Hi Bill and I am pleased to read that they are real birds [pheasants] and not just peasant birds recently arrived from their mud baths !
GRAMPS
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